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"I congratulate Charles Djou for his victory and a successful campaign based on the widely-shared values of cutting spending, shrinking government and creating real, permanent American jobs," said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas).

Those who suggest that voters in Hawaii 'saw the light' by voting for what at first look is a conservative Republican to a seat formerly occupied by a liberal Democrat should do some homework. The majority of the people in Hawaii lean moderate to liberal especially on cultural issues. It will be interesting to see how Djou reconciles the House Republican positions which have been formulated by GOP members who live between the coasts with the views of mainstream voters in Hawaii.

Politically, he might be in a situation similar to Louisiana GOP Rep. Joe Cao who was elected in heavily Democratic district in 2008.

Again Obama goes to West Point and manages to embarass himself and get a tepid reponse from those who have chosen to risk their lives for this country.

Obama said he wants a new international order - allowing more international institutions to dictate to the US -

Anyone talking about the EURO this week - and how it is a disaster - hurting the economies all over Europe?

Meanwhile, Obama is preparing for the WUSS-OFFENSIVE in Kandahar - throwing American tax dollars around - hoping that giving the power brokers in a region of Afghanistan American dollars will be adequate substitute for a military offensive.

Obama's reasoning - this will win the hearts of minds of the people - HA - Obama already said he wants to leave - so their hearts and minds are with who will keep them alive after Obama leaves.

Obama's Afghan policy is the stupidest war strategy in history.

Tell them we are going to leave - and you lose the war. What is the sense of wasting additional American lives if you are going to leave anyway ???

Here's the math, if only 11% of the 28% that voted for Case vote for Djou, who wins? Uh, Djou wins. Check back with me in November when Djou wins again. It's no more straight party line unless your a damn fool. Check the polls, both liberal and conservative and the majority is always NOT democrat. The people's voices will be heard in November and the chnage will be reborn and our nation will be revived.

Posted by: TRUTH20 | May 23, 2010 4:04 PM | Report abuse

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11% of 28% is roughly 40% of that vote. Those numbers don't work. As it was a special election, you need motivated voters which tends to be the base of a party. I'm surprised by the info (thanks, Mark) that turnout was high. Remember the so-called PUMA movement? Hillary's voters came home to Obama in November.

First guess, maybe 10% of the losing Democrat's voters turn coats and 10% get discouraged. That gets it to roughly 55 - 45. That's why I call it uphill for Djou. Not impossible, but I suspect this November's elections will be unusually hotly contested. 53% of America doesn't like being called UN-American.

drindl wrote: just in case you were in agreement with Rand paul about how mean Obama was being about the oil hemmorhage
-------------------------
Just curious. Has anyone on this blog actually defended BP?

just in case you were in agreement with Rand paul about how mean Obama was being about the oil hemmorhage, check out how sweet the company was t the survivors:

"According to two surviving crew members of the Deepwater Horizon, oil workers from the rig were held in seclusion on the open water for up to two days after the April 20 explosion, while attorneys attempted to convince them to sign legal documents stating that they were unharmed by the incident. The men claim that they were forbidden from having any contact with concerned loved ones during that time, and were told they would not be able to go home until they signed the documents they were presented with.

Stephen Davis, a seven-year veteran of drilling-rig work from San Antonio, told The Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg today that he was held on a boat for 36 to 40 hours after diving into the Gulf from the burning rig and swimming to safety. Once on a crew boat, Davis said, he and the others were denied access to satellite phones or radio to get in touch with their families, many of whom were frantic to find out whether or not they were OK.

Davis' attorney told Goldenberg that while on the boat, his client and the others were told to sign the statements presented to them by attorneys for Transocean — the firm that owned the Deepwater Horizon — or they wouldn't be allowed to go home. After being awake for 50 harrowing hours, Davis caved and signed the papers. He said most of the others did as well."

"For starters, real wages for construction workers were lower in 2006 than they were in 1973! Adjusted for inflation, construction workers in 1973 earned the equivalent of $22.13 an hour in today's dollars. However, actual average hourly pay for construction workers in 2006 was only $18.29 – 17 percent below the 1973 rate, adjusted for inflation." Source AFL Building Trades Council

Cabinet makers, bench carpenters, and roofers are all claiming lower income in TX than 20 years ago - this has been widely reported and if I can get into the UT Bureau of Business Research newsletter that I subscribe to in dead tree format, on line, I will post a link.

I think that UT BBR has actually correlated the statistical effect, from recollection.

noacoler wrote: I think distinguishing between being a racist and being willing to tolerate discrimination in practice is a hair-splitting waste if time.
-----------------------------------
No dispute with me. I'm getting a kick out of Will's interesting spin on Rand Paul. In fell swoop, he disapproves of him and minimizes his impact. The vehemence of Will's disapproval is so muted, it barely registers. But, disapproval it is, none the less.

The next interesting thing is to take the pulse of the other conservative opinion leaders. This is an bizarre two-step between the Tea Party and the conservative talk radio megaphonics.

“There is no reason to believe Rand Paul is a racist. There is now reason to believe that he is frivolous,” Will said on “This Week.”

“He doesn’t understand that his job is to win a Senate seat, not conduct a seminar on libertarian philosophy,” Will told “This Week” host Jake Tapper.
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What passes as conservative thought these days has opined on Rand Paul.

Now, what has the other end of the thought spectrum, Mrs. Palin and Mr. Limbaugh, to say?

Posted by: 12BarBlues | May 23, 2010 4:46 PM
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The law of unintended consequences: now that you've revealed George Will does not approve of Rand Paul, Noacoler must turn to defending Paul rather than agree with Will.

Chris said six "contested" special elections. I wonder if that he means by contested. Like some of those elections, the Cali one and the one for Rahm's seat and Bob Wexler's seat were blowouts, so they might not be counted as contested elections.

“There is no reason to believe Rand Paul is a racist. There is now reason to believe that he is frivolous,” Will said on “This Week.”

“He doesn’t understand that his job is to win a Senate seat, not conduct a seminar on libertarian philosophy,” Will told “This Week” host Jake Tapper.
-------------------------------------
What passes as conservative thought these days has opined on Rand Paul.

Now, what has the other end of the thought spectrum, Mrs. Palin and Mr. Limbaugh, to say?

Last night we (unlike The Fix, I am not royal, my wife and I) went to a birthday party for a wonderful retired Oregon elected. One of my favorite state senators (now also retired at over 70) had to leave at 2200 because she had to sing in her church choir this morning.

So, I see you are talking immigration and its relationship to wage depression...gotta read, gotta keep up...hmmm some smart people eh, good.? We'll talk.

Also, I see now many people around the country are just beginning to understand the oil disaster's ongoing special quality. We appreciated all the things that are now evident to all here a month ago. Most people are realizing now...that this is just beginning. But, they are still calling it a spill, as if it were an ooopsy, like a bad diaper blowout.

Noacoler:
You see, your response is the typical consistant reply that all dems have when the truth is revealed. You resort to insults (silly fool).
Here's the math, if only 11% of the 28% that voted for Case vote for Djou, who wins? Uh, Djou wins. Check back with me in November when Djou wins again. It's no more straight party line unless your a damn fool. Check the polls, both liberal and conservative and the majority is always NOT democrat. The people's voices will be heard in November and the chnage will be reborn and our nation will be revived.

clear as could be; they come for work and would not come without jobs. Yet nobody talks about going after their Republican employers; instead the talk is about the helpless workers themselves, a twofer, sparing the employers and riling up the rabble.

Realistically, them dems had 59% of the vote. That's only 19% more than Djou. Don't be surprised if he wins in November.
There's a trend across the nation. People are getting smarter to the deceitful agenda of the current administration and not voting straight party. Wasteful spending, higher unemployment, unpopular forced health care, and big government. The majority is going to attain Obama's goal - Change.
When the reports come out on how many more billions of dollars will be needed for health care and the increased unemployment from it, the dems are doomed. Say what you want but that is fact.

I'm also interested in the wage depression issue. Does anyone have links to data on this? There is a lot of anecdotal information on the wage depression in the trades, but it would be interesting to see the numbers and locales. You know--Rule #1 in Business--Thou shall Solve no Problems without Double Checking the Assumptions.

Thanks, Mark, MMeyers, the wage depression issue came to mind after I made my post yesterday. I am not really all that sure the best way to deal with it. What did you think of the plan offered by Bush during his Presidency? It seemed relatively reasoned in comparison to the "deport 11 million people" plan proffered by the rest of his party.

RE: Djou, it's about a hollow of a victory as you can get, but I think if you're a Republican, you'll take whatever you can get. It's a six month term and is almost certain to return back to Dems in November. If you're a Republican fan, I guess you're hoping that this brings back some of the swagger, but not so much as to get overconfident the way they did after the Scott Brown election. Definitely a huge and meaningful win, but I think the party was too caught up in the hype.

But a win is a win and when a party is as rock bottom as Republicans are , they should be happy to take what they can get.

Also, I'm glad the DNCC decided to pull out of the race and save the money. It will be better spent on other races.

A good start. Now, dismantle the fusion center Gestapo and TAKE DOWN THOSE HOMELAND CELLULAR MICROWAVE TORTURE TOWERS.

Innocent Americans, deemed by a rogue bureaucracy as "dissidents" or undesirables, continue to be extrajudicially targeted, silently irradiated, impaired and tortured, financially sabotaged and stalked and harassed by Bush legacy programs of personal destruction.

These multi-agency programs, run out of Homeland Security-administered fusion centers, support and coordinate police-protected "community policing" and town watch vigilante "community stalking" squads -- nationwide.

Bush-Cheney leave-behinds are destroying your presidency, corrupting local law enforcement, bringing physical and financial harm to untold thousands of persecuted Americans and their families.

Just because the mainstream media is AWOL on these American human and civil rights atrocities does not mean this scandal can be covered up. This veteran journalist won't let that happen.

>> Why: "I don't think it's too much of a difference," he said of Djou winning. "It's more symbolic than anything else." He said that with only one Democratic candidate after the primary election, a Democrat would be back in office after the general election."

BB, this Special was different from others because it was "mail-in", and the turnout was high. That means it is more predictive than usual, so your analysis should be spot on.

Mainland Ds see Case as more centrist and more likely to win, while the Island's D power structure likes Hanabusa.
Will their primary be open -[favors Case, I would guess] or closed - [favors Hanabusa, I would guess]. Will the primary be mail-in?

Assuming the GE is mail-in I would bet on the D who emerges. But your take on a close race I buy, completely.

I will accept corrections on both my assumptions and conclusions from Honolulu residents of the CD, only! But I cannot stop the rest of you from chiming in, of course.

"This Honolulu-based district is the birthplace of President Obama. and he carried it with 70% of the vote in 2008. Before that, it gave 52% of the vote to John Kerry in 2004, and 55% to Al Gore in 2000.

"Today, on CBS’ Face the Nation, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) — who spends a lot of his time fearmongering about various government takeovers — seemed to advocate that the government simply take over BP entirely:

Alexander: There’s one thing [the administration] could do. Under the law, they could fire BP and take it over. But the truth is the federal government probably doesn’t have the capacity to do that. [...]

Q: But would you favor taking over BP if that became necessary?

Alexander: Sure, that’s up to the President to decide…Under the law the federal government can take it over if they choose. And I understand why they might not choose, but that option exists."

Those are very interesting numbers. My guess was that a 60 - 40 vote would give balanced chances in the fall. Assume that some of Case's voters won't vote for Hanabusa and vice versa. Also assume some power of incumbency--purely in terms of media coverage, power of the office, etc. I could see Djou getting an extra 5 - 10% of the vote in the all. So, I'll have this race as leans D, but a possible hold for the Republicans.

BB

Posted by: FairlingtonBlade | May 23, 2010 10:59 AM
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Thank you, FairlingtonBlade. I knew eventually someone would make a rational post---something other than "this wasn't REALLY an election" or "the Republican didn't REALLY win."

37, that was only one in a row. The record is ten. Come on, you have work to do.

Regarding the now familiar anti-BHO racist proxy issues you referenced -- tea baggers, tenthers, deathers, birthers, Rand Paul-style libertarianism, etc. -- what more is there to say? Rush summed this crowd best when he said, "I hope [BHO} fails." No policy debate, or substantive arguments, just "I hope he fails" no matter what he proposes for the good of the country.

On a more important matter, you don't want that mayo sandwich to sit on the kitchen counter too long.

Again, bozo, who claims this seat in Washington if it isn't a "real victory?

"Most of the people I know here in Hawaii vote Dem."

LOL. No kidding? Probably ALL the people you know.

"But it does make me wonder if returning to conservative Japan is a better option, than watching Hawaii or mainland USA become T-party supporters."

Every time a Republican wins an election---or even runs in an election---there're always a bunch of liberal loons who promise to leave the country if the Republican wins. But they never do.
Maybe the "party of the rich" should take up a collection and buy all of them one-way-tickets if they promise never to return. Are you listening Alec Baldwin? Pinko Penn?

By my count, that makes 9 congressional election since 2008 and 2 wins for Republicans. For a party that supposedly resurgent, this is a pretty lousy showing.

Posted by: wiscoman | May 23, 2010 3:18 AM
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Always lousy when a Republican wins isn't it? Does this mean no more posts about Democratic victories "in a row?" By the way what's your count since 1947?

Um, this is not a win for the Republicans. I used the new math (31 + 28) and concluded that 59 percent of the electorate voted for a Democrat. The two yahoo candidates were both too egotistical to set aside their differences for the benefit of the oparty. Nice goin. Oh yeah, aloha, and all that crap, too.

Posted by: harryejones | May 23, 2010 12:45 AM
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Not a win for the Republicans? Notify the Capitol police! I've heard dependable rumors that a Republican is going to show up and try to claim that seat!

Six consecutive posts without any intervening posts from anyone else. I believe the modern record is ten, set by JakeD/JakeD2 during his famous "I'm not begging" meltdown on this blog. Try again and go for it, 37.

BTW, your Mom said she has TWO mayonaisse sandwiches waiting for you when you come up from the basement, with a glob of ketchup on the side as your "Reagan" vegetable.

Enjoy.
_________________

Re Hawaii, this GOP win is temporary: in November, a Dem will replace this guy before he figures out where the Senate Dining Room is.

A top Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, made the comment during a meeting on Wednesday with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper reports.

___________________________________

Obama is NOT going to ENFORCE FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS - so let's just stop pretending.

It is just another way that Obama is completely out of step with America.

The overall national situation is this: All Obama and the democrats are doing now is searching for issues which make themselves look good, make the Republicans look bad - and the democrats are still COMPLETELY INEFFECTIVE.

Take this Wall Street bill - ALL Obama wants to do is make the Republicans look bad - AND PRETEND THAT THE DEMOCRATS REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING.

However, ask people about the bill itself - the BILL DOES LITTLE TO ADDRESS THE ACTUAL PROBLEMS -

And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not addressed at all.

This is Obama idiocy taken to the EXTREME - OBAMA IS NOT GOVERNING - Obama is just sitting there trying to do something "big" to satisfy his EGO - and Obama doesn't care about anything else.

The democrats are in the process of COMPLETELY IGNORING THE REAL PROBLEMS IN THE COUNTRY - AND THEY ARE JUST PLAYING POLITICS.

What a pathetic bunch of wiesels - and I understand that many of the democratic bloggers here do not understand what is really going on here - but it is horrible.

They had a doctor on - and he started reading Obama's health care bill - he said it was ALL FOR THE SPECIAL INTERESTS - AND LITTLE FOR THE PATIENTS.

The democrats put a BLIND FAITH that Obama would produce a good health care bill - but ALL OBAMA DID WAS TAKE CARE OF THE SPECIAL INTERESTS.

The democrats have to ADMIT that even THEY don't know what is really in the bill.

We heard all sorts of things in the days after the health care bill passed - that we would suddenly find out how good it was, and how the immediate effects were good - TURNS OUT - that half of that was just NOT TRUE - and the other half the democrats just stopped talking about.

The TRUTH is that the health care bill is little but A DRAG ON HIRING.

Democrats - the sooner you realize that this administration is a bunch of IDIOTS - the better off you will be.

AND the West Point speech yesterday - OBAMA just has to do another "big" thing, just for the sake of doing a "big" thing - and there is little POLICY JUSTIFICATION BEHIND IT.

The U.S. Justice Department has dropped a probe of American International Group Inc executives involving the credit default swaps that sent the insurer to the brink of bankruptcy and forced a huge taxpayer bailout, lawyers for the executives said on Saturday.

__________________________________

I guess the Feds determined that at AIG, it wasn't fraud after all, they were just really stupid.

Those are very interesting numbers. My guess was that a 60 - 40 vote would give balanced chances in the fall. Assume that some of Case's voters won't vote for Hanabusa and vice versa. Also assume some power of incumbency--purely in terms of media coverage, power of the office, etc. I could see Djou getting an extra 5 - 10% of the vote in the all. So, I'll have this race as leans D, but a possible hold for the Republicans.

MM, good description of the shadow underclass of workers. The Dickensian poverty is a blight.

J do wish those who profit by taking advantage of this underclass and those who advocate amnesty for it would not be fueling the discussion of the national interest. Amnesty perpetuates the problem, unless the borders and ports could be hermetically sealed, which I suggest is beyond our current capacity.

It is within our capacity to tweak employment law in a way that makes job prospects for undocs grim and encourages them to leave on their own. It is possible to make southern border crossings very daunting and port entry very rare, but considering the number of undocs who are here on expired visas, port security is secondary to employment verification, anyway, as a prophylactic. Northern border crossings for IAs will remain more difficult to control, west of the St. Lawrence seaway. I never read much concern about that but it is a security issue.

Mark, I will also add that many illegals are badly taken advantage of once they are here. Their employers know they cannot complain to authorities, and so they are hosed in every direction.

If they aren't working under the table, they pay the many withholdings we pay but with no chance of enjoying the benefits. They are given dangerous jobs to do (remember that film-stripping plant in Illinois where workers were poisoned?)or work with chemicals they aren't trained to work with. If they become injured on the job they are afraid to apply for comp. Of course, women who come here often end up in housekeeping, office cleaning, semi-indentured service and prostitution. Poverty and isolation keep there.

I think we already have our candidate for the Worst Week in Washington for next week.

By winning this special election, Djou has guaranteed himself a miserable 5 months of fund-raising and campaigning while flying back and forth from Hawaii to Washington for his job as a temp... I mean, congressman. Meanwhile, Hanabusa and Case can enjoy life in Hawaii and devote themselves to their campaigns full time.

Djou is lucky he'll have the great minds of the GOP telling him when to breathe and how to vote. That helps.

Off topic to ddawd: you asked why I thought illegal immigration was a bad thing, and suggested you saw it as mainly a security but less as an economic issue.

A trickle of IAs, I would say, is a persistent security issue.

A running faucet of them creates a socio-economic problem, as well.

They become an underclass, unmotivated by anything but survival, who become a shadow population, uncooperative with law enforcement and often transient, to avoid detection. In large numbers, a significant number of them will form no actual community attachment to the neighborhood, as it will form none to them.

The policies that I suggested, with no amnesty whatsoever, would address these perceived problems. Most IAs would leave on their own, but while they remained, the non-violent and productive ones would not be harassed, and legal immigration would be reprioritized so that immigrant job skills would become a higher priority than family unification. Thus we would get the immigrants who fit our security and economic needs, and we would reduce IAs to a manageable trickle, without busting the budget or reinstating the draft.

Ddawd, I had the sense that you were arguing that IAs do not displace legals in the job market, but rather, expand it. It is my guess that in that you have been correct, but you must include in your analysis the wage depression in certain service businesses that has followed.

It's true Dijou won. But the Dems actually held the vote with almost 60%. If there wasn't much friction between Hanabusa and Case, the vote would be different. Hanabusa was not far behined in votes. This is not a "real" victory for the Republicans. Most of the people I know here in Hawaii vote Dem. But it does make me wonder if returning to conservative Japan is a better option, than watching Hawaii or mainland USA become T-party supporters..

cryos says Go crawl under a rock somewhere as the country takes itself back from the metrosexual whiny little brats liberals have become to a metro whiner named dcraven

My Comment: I agree that dcraven is precisely the kind of cancer cell infesting the Dem Party and the USA in general and should be removed by invasive surgery.

USMC _Mike "PA 12: The pro-life, pro-gun, anti-healthcare "D" won, and it was a "crushing defeat" to the R's" should be a partial response to wiscoman. The other part of the response is Scott Brown's taking back "the people's seat" from one of an elitist band of constitution-wreckers who have violated their oath to preserve and protect the USA. Indeed, Mr. Gingrich is correct when he observes that these elitists are the greatest threat to the USA since Adolf Hitler and, I would add, the opponent of the USA that they admire most---Joseph Stalin.

"Um, this is not a win for the Republicans. I used the new math (31 + 28) and concluded that 59 percent of the electorate voted for a Democrat. The two yahoo candidates were both too egotistical to set aside their differences for the benefit of the oparty. Nice goin. Oh yeah, aloha, and all that crap, too.

Posted by: harryejones"

I wouldn't call it an ego thing. There will be a new election for the seat and only one of the Dem candidates will be on the ballot. The two of them were using it as a dress rehearsal. The seat will be blue with the 112th Congress.

Not that it may have influenced the final vote or anything but here's a Trivial Pursuit question for the mainland political junkies: of the top finishers, how many actually lived in the the Hawaii 1st Congressional district when they filed their papers for the special election?

Given how the Democratic candidates finished, one of the 'what if' questions that will inevitably pop up is what if the resources had been unified behind the candidate with the arguably stronger establishment grassroots support who could deal with the last minute negative ads (which seemed on the benign side for Hawaii). Anyway, it will be interesting to see how much resources the GOP and Democratic national committees and Mainland-based interest groups pump into the race for this seat come September (Democratic primary) and the general in November. Hawaii's economy could sure use the economic stimulus.

Posted by: dcraven925
==============
Feel free to explain democrats dishonest use of racism hurting the country to pander for votes. Tell me how great it is.

Oh I guess you can only copy and paste what you like and ignore the rest. Kind of like the media these days. Buh bye liberals you have exposed yourself for the angry hypocrites you are.

Lying to America about bipartisanship, cleaning up corruption and being a centrist and then smugly cheering on a far leftist push will have consequences.

You might be pulling out the stops in the media to try to stem the tide but in the desperation to hide the truth you will be exposed and the MSM has already lost its credibility with a LOT of Americans.

Um, this is amazing! AOL founder Steve Case posted for weeks in advance on Twitter for his bro., but obiviously did no good.

My Comment. Ed Case is not Steve's brother, he's his Cousin.

Cryos wrote:
If the GOP can take Hawaii, they can win anywhere.

My comment. Sure. They can win anywhere if they can have two opponents split the vote. That's why primaries are important.

Cryos wrote:
However democrats did take 60 rather than 70 percent of the votes like for Obama. I'm guessing Dijou would be less known as well since he is a councilman rather than a state senator or us rep.

My Comment:
Djou is a member of the City Council of Honolulu. Contrary to your views, being a member of the City Counsel in Honolulu is a high visibility post particularly in a district located ENTIRELY within Honolulu. A State Senator covers a much smaller area. Its helpful to actually know something about local politics before you speculate.

Posted by: dcraven925 | May 23, 2010 12:46 AM
=========================
That's why I said I WOULD GUESS but I guess you are too stupid to understand that. Go crawl under a rock somewhere as the country takes itself back from the metrosexual whiny little brats liberals have become.

Scurry out in another 10 years when people have forgotten what nasty selfish controlling people liberals are.

Um, this is not a win for the Republicans. I used the new math (31 + 28) and concluded that 59 percent of the electorate voted for a Democrat. The two yahoo candidates were both too egotistical to set aside their differences for the benefit of the oparty. Nice goin. Oh yeah, aloha, and all that crap, too.

Um, this is not a win for the Republicans. I used the new math (31 + 28) and concluded that 59 percent of the electorate voted for a Democrat. The two yahoo candidates were both too egotistical to set aside their differences for the benefit of the oparty. Nice goin. Oh yeah, aloha, and all that crap, too.

Um, this is amazing! AOL founder Steve Case posted for weeks in advance on Twitter for his bro., but obiviously did no good.

My Comment. Ed Case is not Steve's brother, he's his Cousin.

Cryos wrote:
If the GOP can take Hawaii, they can win anywhere.

My comment. Sure. They can win anywhere if they can have two opponents split the vote. That's why primaries are important.

Cryos wrote:
However democrats did take 60 rather than 70 percent of the votes like for Obama. I'm guessing Dijou would be less known as well since he is a councilman rather than a state senator or us rep.

My Comment:
Djou is a member of the City Council of Honolulu. Contrary to your views, being a member of the City Counsel in Honolulu is a high visibility post particularly in a district located ENTIRELY within Honolulu. A State Senator covers a much smaller area. Its helpful to actually know something about local politics before you speculate.

Um, this is not a win for the Republicans. I used the new math (31 + 28) and concluded that 59 percent of the electorate voted for a Democrat. The two yahoo candidates were both too egotistical to set aside their differences for the benefit of the oparty. Nice goin. Oh yeah, aloha, and all that crap, too.

Note the positions in which the two Democrats finished. Ironic since as late as 3 weeks ago the DCCC was trying to convince Hanabusa to drop out of the race as the weaker candidate. Check out the local newspapers and archived TV coverage.

My Comment:

Ed Case said it very well when he pointed out that he was the subject of serious negative campaigning. Some of the dirtiest and most unfair ads that I have ever seen. Just about every claim in the "independent" ad was simply wrong. And this Ad was running on TV more frequently than any other ad that was being run. It takes time and money to beat back dirty campaign tactics. My money is still on Case in the primary and on whatever democrat gets the nomination in November.

Note the positions in which the two Democrats finished. Ironic since as late as 3 weeks ago the DCCC was trying to convince Hanabusa to drop out of the race as the weaker candidate. Check out the local newspapers and archived TV coverage.

My Comment:

Ed Case said it very well when he pointed out that he was the subject of serious negative campaigning. Some of the dirtiest and most unfair ads that I have ever seen. Just about every claim in the "independent" ad was simply wrong. And this Ad was running on TV more frequently than any other ad that was being run. It takes time and money to beat back dirty campaign tactics. My money is still on Case in the primary and on whatever democrat gets the nomination in November.

If Djou wins the most votes, why would you characterize his victory as "stealing?" Do congressional seats "belong" to a particular party? Or might they instead belong to the voters? Yes, those same voters may have voting widely for Obama in 2008. But they may very well have "buyer's remorse" and want a Republican now.

My comment: Its clear that you got the talking points. And you are wrong on just about every point. He "stole" the seat because more than 60% of the voters didn't want him. The seat doesn't belong to a particular political party -- but the voters in the State of Hawaii have certain views that they strongly support -- and the party that represents those views and aspirations is the Democratic Party.

As for Buyer's remorse? Nearly 60% of the voters came out in support of the candidates supported by Obama. This is "basic math" -- 60% is greater than 40%.

Note the positions in which the two Democrats finished. Ironic since as late as 3 weeks ago the DCCC was trying to convince Hanabusa to drop out of the race as the weaker candidate. Check out the local newspapers and archived TV coverage.

If Djou wins the most votes, why would you characterize his victory as "stealing?" Do congressional seats "belong" to a particular party? Or might they instead belong to the voters? Yes, those same voters may have voting widely for Obama in 2008. But they may very well have "buyer's remorse" and want a Republican now.

My comment: Its clear that you got the talking points. And you are wrong on just about every point. He "stole" the seat because more than 60% of the voters didn't want him. The seat doesn't belong to a particular political party -- but the voters in the State of Hawaii have certain views that they strongly support -- and the party that represents those views and aspirations is the Democratic Party.

As for Buyer's remorse? Nearly 60% of the voters came out in support of the candidates supported by Obama. This is "basic math" -- 60% is greater than 40%.

If Djou wins the most votes, why would you characterize his victory as "stealing?" Do congressional seats "belong" to a particular party? Or might they instead belong to the voters? Yes, those same voters may have voting widely for Obama in 2008. But they may very well have "buyer's remorse" and want a Republican now.